Summary of WalletHub article, “2015’s Rates of Uninsured by State Before & After Obamacare”

Using data from the US Census Bureau, WalletHub measured the uninsured rates, after the implementation of the Affordable Care act, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Rates have been broken down to state levels. Commentary and methodology can be found here.

In addition to overall insurance rates, states were compared based on age, race/ethnicity, income and type of insurer. An overall rank of No. 1 was awarded to the state with the lowest uninsured rate, Oregon. California was ranked # 4 nationally in reducing its numbers of uninsured, following Oregon, Nevada, and Kentucky. California ranked 36th out of all the states with an average uninsurance rate of 12.5% in 2014, after the implementation of the ACA. Also, all but 10 states saw an increase in employer-based insurance from 2010 to 2014. States that did see a decrease saw only small declines in the rates of employer-based insurance.

The data shows the implementation of the ACA continues to be successful in reducing the number of uninsured and increasing health insurance throughout the country — even more pronounced in states that expanded their Medicaid programs as indicated in the map below.